What are your names for nursing..?

Megan - posted on 02/09/2012
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I was wondering the different names you and your little ones call nursing. My daughter is 22 months now and has a sign for it, but as of yet hasn't actually called it anything. I'm thinking in particular for out in public or around relatives that aren't exactly supportive of extended breastfeeding.... Just wondering what creative things you've come up with. :) Thanks!

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Laura - posted on 02/09/2012

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We always just taught Katie to ask for Milk. As she got older, we tell her when she pulls on my shirt, "That's Katie's milk" or if she says milk to me, I say, "Yes that's mommy's milk just for Katie". "Does Katie want some milk?'. She just weaned herself and sometimes she still points to my chest and I ask her if she wants some milk and she matter of factly says "No!".She will be three next month. I miss it already!

I see a trend here......it's cute no matter what they call it when they're young but when they're 2-3 and up and saying boobies most moms regret it lol.

Now I'm all for normalizing breastfeeding and I always hope moms can get over bein ashamed in public and I'm so supportive of full term breastfeeding but I think maybe moms will benefit from not using boob as the name.

I think nah nah, num num, boo boo, etc type names seem to work well!

But if not, milk, mommy milk etc seems like the best choice.

Though 'more' is quite cute :)

Just picture your three year old saying it and decide if it's really something you want them getting used to :)

I'm currently nursing my 3rd child. My older boys who don't nurse just call it mommy milk. My 2yr old is funny when I go to feed his baby brother because every time I do he has to inform everyone that "Ian eat mommy milk" Honestly who cares what people think about you breastfeeding, you are doing a good thing for your daughter. My husbands nephew is 18 or 19 and was at our house yesterday and i had to feed the baby, that kid didn't say a word and trust me he's pretty vocal about things. My mother in law says stuff once in awhile but i just give her a look and she shuts up. It's your right to feed your child how you choose, it's not like she's drinking booze or anything lol. My oldest was at our county fair last year and he saw a woman about to start breastfeeding and he asked what she was doing, i said she was feeding her baby and he moved on from the subject. It's all about perception if you don't make a big deal about it nobody else will.

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Amber - posted on 04/14/2012

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from the beginning, we've called it "nummies" or "num nums".....i dont know why! i just asked her in the hospital the first time i nursed her if she was ready for some nummy nums and it kind of stuck...

my daughter is 9 months old and just signs "milk" at me. then mom, then milk. My husband laughs and goes..she gets it, you want milk, punkin! and then everyone is laughing. It's so cute when she signs. And not many of our friends know ASL, so they just think she's waving around like a cute baby.

i actually remember calling it boo-boo when i was a child. (my mother breastfed me until i was two and then my lil bro and sis got the go) so it was "my brother is having boo-boo." and when the cats had kittens the kittens "had boo-boo" from mamma kitty. my son is now 4 1/2 months and he says boo-boo with a little rasperry sound for a b. so cute!

my daughter and i always called it time for "nummies" "nums" or "num nums". she sort of made it up. i think she was playing off of the word "yummy" or "yum". it as a lot better to have her say in public, because once, in the middle of Target, she was REALLY ready for a feeding and screamed out "NIPS" as loud as she could. HAHA! needless to say, it was packed with people and its a pretty easy word to decipher. :)

we've always called them "boof" because since our DD was quite small she would smile and say booooooffff after nursing, when she didn't fall asleep that is. We also do the sign for milk and she does that more than anything.

My eldest son spoke late so he never had his own name for it while he nursed. Now that his brother is nursing, he just says the baby needs to eat and uses the sign for "food". We've explained to him that baby brother drinks milk from mommas boobies just like he did when he was a baby. Sometimes we call milk "milky" but that's about the most creative we get. lol My 6 year old nephew explains that his sister drinks milk from his mommy's "baby feeders". I personally wouldn't worry about what your relatives think. Let her call it whatever comes naturally and they can just deal with it. But I know that's easier said than done sometimes. =) I have a brother in law who is very uncomfortable with breast feeding. I have made it a point to ignore his comments about me needing to leave the room to feed my son and he has stopped. The rest of the family doesn't care. He gets up and leaves the room while my son nurses now and I stay and continue enjoying the company of the rest of my family. lol

My daughter is 27 months and although she stopped at 17 months she is watching breastfeed her brother who is 11 weeks. She calls my breasts and breastfeading "booboo". She has asked for "booboo too please" while I nurse but then if I say ok she puts her mouth near my breast and starts giggling. Its pretty funny. If you ask her what brother eats she says booboo milk.

my 25month old daughter whom im still feeding calls it moosh. its how she use to say milk when she was first learning to talk, and was super stoked when i started to follow her lead and call nursing "moosh". before then we had a sign for it too. sometimes she will still use the sign. i recomend using a code word such as this, to prevent awkward social moments and judgements being inflicted on ur child. as unfortunate as it is, extended feeding is still a very taboo subject in our culture. not to say that we should feel like we should have to hide it, its just nice to be able to choose who we share this information about ourselves with. although i dont feed her in public anymore. not by intention, its just turned out that she only wants its at bedtime now.

I always used to ask if my daughter wanted 'milky' so it could be used anywhere and people didnt know straight away in public that I was talking about b/f. She would also tap me which was the sign I knew she was getting hungry

We call it Su-su. My cousin is a missionary style teacher and avid breastfeeding mom, she picked it up from Papa New Guinea (I think) and I loved the way it sounded and how nobody really knew what was being said, so I adopted it! I don't recall if it's the word for breast, milk or nursing, but either way, that's what we call it. Nobody has a clue when my nearly 3 year old asks if her sisters need some su-su!

Thanks for the input, all! I think I usually call it simply "milk" or "mommy's milk" ... But I do like the "more" and "snuggle" ideas.. I guess I am mostly trying to avoid a situation where she's screaming "BOOBIE!!!!" (or something) in a public place. lol I've never been terribly self-conscious breastfeeding in public, but at the same time, not everyone has to know that's what is going to happen because my baby is screaming it. :) Right now, she signs "milk" and says, "this, this!" It works and might just stick, even. I was just curious how other moms handled it. :) Thanks a lot!!

I get what you're talking about Laura, with how breastfeeding shouldn't be something to be ashamed about, and I think kids calling it boob/booby (or worse, Titty, which I've heard some kids call it) really doesn't help with the public perception of it. I mean, seriously, if you're out in public and your kid yells out "I want booby!" it's only going to make people (and by "people" I mean men and teenage boys) turn around and snigger about it. ("Heehee, boobs...") Why can't men/boys just get over the whole boob thing, really??? That's why I really liked how Ella called it "more", because no one had any idea what she was asking for - she could have been asking for more of absolutely anything, so no one batted an eyelid.

My daughter started calling it nee nee of her own accord and I was happy to keep using it. Besides if I'm with some one who doesn't approve of me nursing a 26 mo old. I tell them she's trying to say drink.

I wanted something that could be said in public by my kids and me. I started calling it "milkies" and my daughter and son have always called it that. infact they think the name for breast is milkies. the other day my daughter was asking me about her milkies and why they are small.

I think if it was yelled in public noone would know if the toddler wanted to nurse or cows milk. eventhough milkies is close to milk my daughter (who nurses until 3) had an easy distinction. one day when nurses I asked her if she wanted more milk? oh man she was not happy with me. she said " that is not milk mommy that is milkies." she also drank milk from a cup during this time.

My brother called it " sides" I guess b/c my mom always asked him if he was ready to switch "sides".

I fell into the habit of asking my daughter if she wanted to snuggle when we nursed, so now she asked for 'snuggle' when she wants it. I didn't plan it that way but I am glad it's a word that's okay for public use!

Myson is 2.5 and he's always called it boob or boobm. It was fine for awhile but now it makes me cringe. It sounds weird and I don't like it. So I'm helping him learn to call it 'mama milk' and my 9 month daughter will hopefully learn straight off the bat that it's called mama milk.

I've seen these same threads for a while and so when I was unhappy with what he said I though a while and decided I wanted something not embarrassing but not cutsie. And I wanted it to be correct.

So mama milk sounded perfect. But it's very hard making him change so set a name up now to avoid issues later!

my daughter always called it "more". This is because every time we went to change sides I would ask her if she wanted some more. So she just ended up thinking that's what it was called. She would smack me on the chest and say "more" whenever she wanted a feed (even if she hadn't had any to begin with, to warrent having "more"). Now she is nearly 3 and doesn't even remember breast feeding, but she still refers to boobs, nipples and bras as "mores". She watches her baby brother feed, but doesn't refer to the process of feeding as "more" anymore, but she did comment a few times early on that "Lewis is biting your mores!" One day she said to me "mummy, you have big mores! But look, I only have flat mores" and pointed at her nipples. And one day we were shopping and I was looking for a new bra. She walked down the aisle in wonder, going "wow, look at all the mores!" My son is only 10 months old so he doesn't call it anything yet, but I have noticed that I still always say "do you want more" before changing signs. So I guess it remains to be seen whether he'll call it that too. He is starting to lose interest a little bit though, and doesn't demand it like she used to, so he might have stopped before he starts calling it anything.

We call it snacks. My youngest is 27 months and asks for snackies now that he's not only signing. Big brother still calls my breasts 'snackers'. We wanted something we wouldn't be worried about hearing across the room at a social function.

I referred to it as milkies from the time my son was born. When he started talking... he used the word baboo and that's what it's been ever since (we quit at 3.25 and he's almost 4 now, but still talks about it).

With my oldest I always just called it milk. If we were out in public and she asked for milk no one would pay any attention to a toddler asking for milk. Now when she'd pull my shirt that was a whole different matter... but that'll happen no matter what you call it. Now that she's older and has a baby sister who's nursing, we call it Mommy Milk. The baby gets mommy milk, and my 3 1/2 year old gets cow milk, or rice milk, or sometimes as a special treat she gets pumped mommy milk.

My husband started teaching our first one to call it boobie, but I knew right away I didn't want her asking me for boobie. I just never referred to it that way, and when I'd ask it was always "do you want some milk?" or "do you want your milk now?"

'Boobie please mommy!' I used to think it's lovely, but now at 29 months I'm really not comfortable with nursing in public anymore, never mind my toddler shouting for her boobies. Next time around I'll be thinking of some kind of code word right from the start...

I also use Boob, Boobie etc. but when talking to/with my 3 year old we say "Mom's milk" or "Boob milk". Or else it's just "feeding the baby". If Rose gets to the point of actually asking for it, I wouldn't mind if she asked for Boob. As it is she pulls on the neck of my shirt or bangs my chest. :)

I ask my 6 week old if he "wants some booby" lol, but just tel my 22 month old I'm feeding the baby, and if she was still nursing that's probably how I would refer to it around others. After all - that's what you're doing!